More and more evidence is pointing towards the next Xbox requiring an always-on internet connection in order to play any games - i.e., once you lose your connection, you can't play any game at all. Three minutes after losing your connection, "your" game will suspend itself and stop playing. Microsoft's Adam Orth took to Twitter to defend this anti-consumer practice, but he did so in the most ungraceful of ways.

This is another reason to avoid gaming consoles, and support DRM free gaming and distributors, like GOG, Desura and etc. who have a principal DRM free stance.

GoG and Desura are equals to current gen. consoles. All require internet to download new games, all let you play games while offline/when you want. Side benefits of consoles is getting new games without internet.

No, there is a key difference. Firstly I'm talking about purely digital purchasing, not about buying retail games. For such you naturally need connection at least to buy and download the purchase. That's a good thing. But then you can backup the installer and don't need Internet to install and play the game again. In contrast, DRMed services require you connecting for their servers each time you install the game, or each time you play (or both). DRM free means - both aren't formally required once you got the installer.

No, there is a key difference. Firstly I'm talking about purely digital purchasing, not about buying retail games.

I added that for the obvious advantage you were ignoring.

But then you can backup the installer and don't need Internet to install and play the game again. In contrast, DRMed services require you connecting for their servers each time you install the game, or each time you play (or both). DRM free means

I know what DRM free means, i’m just interested in people looking at this fairly. You can’t resell the games you buy at GoG or Desura, right?

The only difference between them is you can install offline, as PS3 allows you to backup your PSN downloads to hdd, no idea about Xbox. Ignoring multiplayer‐only games, no PS3 games require being online to run them. Even Journey which is very much multiplayer works absolutely without ’net.